Part I, Chapters VIVIII

Summary: Chapter VI Gulliver describes the general customs and practices of Lilliput in more detail, beginning by explaining that everything in Lilliput their animals, trees, and plants is sized in proportion to the Lilliputians. Their eyesight is also adapted to their scale: Gulliver cannot see as clearly close-up as they can, hile they cannot see as far as he can. The Lilliputians are ell educated, but their riting system is odd to Gulliver, ho !o"es that they rite not left to right li"e the #uropeans or top to bottom li"e the $hinese, but from one corner of the page to the other, %li"e the ladies in #ngland.& The dead are buried ith their heads pointing directly do n ard, because the Lilliputians believe that eventually the dead ill rise again and that the #arth, hich they thin" is flat, ill turn upside do n. Gulliver adds that the better-educated Lilliputians no longer believe in this custom. Gulliver describes some of the other la s of Lilliput, such as a tradition by hich anyone ho falsely accuses someone else of a crime against the state is put to death. 'eceit is considered orse than theft, because honest people are more vulnerable to liars than to thieves, since commerce re(uires people to trust one another. The la provides not only for punishment but also for re ards of special titles and privileges for good behavior. $hildren are raised not by individual parents but by the "ingdom as a hole. They are sent to live in schools at a very young age. The schools are chosen according to the station of their parents, hom they see only t ice a year. )nly the laborers* children stay home, since their !ob is to farm. There are no beggars at all, since the poor are ell loo"ed after. Summary: Chapter VII Gulliver goes on to describe the %intrigue& that precipitates his departure from Lilliput. +hile he prepares to ma"e his trip to ,lefuscu, a court official tells Gulliver that he has been charged ith treason by enemies in the government. -e sho s Gulliver the document calling for his execution: Gulliver is charged ith public urination, refusing to obey the emperor*s orders to seize the remaining ,lefuscu ships, aiding enemy ambassadors, and traveling to ,lefuscu. Gulliver is told that .eldresal has as"ed for his sentence to be reduced, calling not for execution but for putting his eyes out. This punishment has been agreed upon, along ith a plan to starve him to death slo ly. The official tells Gulliver that the operation to blind him ill ta"e place in three days. /earing this resolution, Gulliver crosses the channel and arrives in ,lefuscu. Summary: Chapter VIII

Three days later, he sees a boat of normal sizethat is, big enough to carry him overturned in the ater. -e as"s the emperor of ,lefuscu to help him fix it. 0t the same time, the emperor of Lilliput sends an envoy ith the articles commanding Gulliver to give up his eyesight. The emperor of ,lefuscu sends it bac" ith the message that Gulliver ill soon be leaving both their "ingdoms. 0fter about a month, the boat is ready and Gulliver sets sail. -e arrives safely bac" in #ngland, here he ma"es a good profit sho ing miniature farm animals that he carried a ay from ,lefuscu in his poc"ets. Analysis: Part I, Chapters VIVIII Throughout much of 1art 2, 3 ift satirizes #uropean practices by implicitly comparing them to outrageous Lilliputian customs. 2n $hapter 42, ho ever, Gulliver describes a number of unusual Lilliputian customs that he presents as reasonable and sensible. This chapter, hich describes improvements that could be made in #uropean society, is less satirical and ironic than the previous chapters. +e may infer that 3 ift approves of many of these institutions. $learly, there is a good case to be made for treating fraud as a more serious crime than theft and for ma"ing false testimony a capital crime. The very fabric of society depends upon trust, so dishonesty may be even more damaging than theft and violence. 2n general, the customs of Lilliput that 3 ift presents as good are those that contribute to the good of the community or the nation as opposed to those that promote individual rights or freedoms. 2ngratitude is punishable by death, for instance, because anybody ho ould treat a benefactor badly must be an enemy to all man"ind. $hildren are raised by the community rather than by their parents because parents are thin"ing only of their o n appetites hen they conceive children. $hildren are raised in public nurseries, but parents are financially penalized if they burden society by bringing children for hom they cannot pay into the orld. Gulliver*s analysis of Lilliputian customs also serves to illuminate the arbitrary nature of such practices, as ell as the fact that societies tend to assume, nonetheless, that certain customs are simply natural. The Lilliputians do not (uestion their cultural norms because they have no reason to believe that there is any other ay to conduct affairs. +hen alternatives are discussed, as in the case of the egg-brea"ing controversy, the discussion ends in violent conflict. The articles of accusation against Gulliver, li"e the inventory of his possessions and the articles of his freedom in the previous chapters, are ritten in formal language that serves only to emphasize their absurdity. 3 ift ma"es a moc"ery of formal language by sho ing ho it can be used to mas" simple fears and desires, such as the Lilliputians* desire to eliminate the threat that Gulliver poses. The help that Gulliver gets from .eldresal is an illustration of a persistent motif in Gullivers Travels: the good person surrounded by a corrupt society.